EXCLUSIVE: Mark McKenna (Sing Street) and Stephen Lang (Avatar) are among cast to lead thriller Isolation Booth, which has recently wrapped filming in Minnesota.

Heralding from producers Shifted Industry (Showtime’s Basketball County: In The Water) and Witchcraft Motion Picture Company (IFC & Shudder’s Dolly), the psychological thriller from first-time feature director John Beckham follows a once-celebrated songwriter battling addiction as he retreats to a secluded studio for one last chance at relevance. When there, an enigmatic producer helps to complete the song at any cost.

Rounding out the cast are Cory Jeacoma, Micah Joe Parker, Isa Grofsorean, and introducing Meghan Kreidler.

Shot on location at the celebrated Pachyderm Recording Studio — home to the recording of iconic albums from acts including Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Hum, Live, Soul Asylum, Alkaline Trio, Motion City Soundtrack, and others — the film grew out of Beckham’s years as a musician and filmmaker.

Producers are Audra Arnaudon, Erica Margaux Baca, and Beckham. Sam Brin executive-produced alongside The Wire writer George Pelecanos. Noah Lang served as executive producer for Witchcraft.

The filmmakers are targeting a 2027 festival and market premiere with a sales attachment in the works.

“I’m excited to share what feels like a unique take on the psychological thriller genre, where the actors are actual musicians, playing their instruments on camera, blending cinematic realism into a world that can sometimes feel like a different reality,” said Beckham in a statement.

“In the most positive way, I feel so exhausted and fulfilled by this role at the same time,” said Sing Street, The Tourist and Small Things Like These actor McKenna. “I am very grateful to be a part of this project. Everybody on this set gave their all to this movie, and I’m excited for people to see it.”

“There is an otherworldly aspect to the role that I find challenging as he serves as guide, conscience, and tempter to the battered body and bruised soul of a rock star in the throes of artistic creation and destruction. Plus I dig the music,” commented Avatar star Lang.

Lang is repped by Innovative and Vision PR; McKenna by Independent Talent Group and Authentic Talent and Literary Management.

Welcome. It’s another week, another Insider. Jesse Whittock at the wheel this week, speeding along the highway of international film and TV news. Let’s get going. Sign up to the newsletter here for the full Insider experience.

Canada’s Streaming Stress

“Preserve the principle”: Canada’s film and TV industry thought they had fought and won their war with the global streamers when the Online Streaming Act was introduced after much debate and hard graft back in 2023. That put into law the obligation for foreign streaming services to pay 5% of revenues back into original production. However, a move by the country’s media regulator to increase that to 15% in May this year appeared to have badly backfired when Mark Carney’s ruling Liberal Party responded by saying the obligations should be reviewed as costs would be passed on to subscribers. It was a gut shot for the industry. This week, a coalition of 50 major Canadian screen bodies, unions and festivals issued an open letter to Carney and culture minister Marc Miller, urging them to “preserve the principle” that foreign streamers should make “meaningful, predictable and enforceable” contributions. There is a sense in Canada that the change in policy direction is related to the fractious trade relationship with Donald Trump’s administration, though Carney insists it’s about consumers. The open letter also broadly rejected an alternative to invest an annual C$600M ($430M) into production. “Instead of building and sharing our own stories with the world, we would be left watching from the sidelines as foreign content increasingly defines what Canadians see on their screens,” the signatories argued. Netflix, Prime Video and co. have been fighting to scrap levies and obligations around the world, with their position being they already invest tons without the need for regulation. Home to television’s biggest recent hit, Heated Rivalry, Canada has once again become a key front in their global battle.

Love For Lucy Davis

Outpouring of love for original ‘Office’ star: For Brits like me of a certain vintage, there’s no beating the wonderful will-they-won’t-they love story of Dawn and Tim in Ricky Gervais’ seminal BBC mockumentary The Office. Back in 2001, we all sat glued to the TV, teeth clenched, as the two quietly tried (and usually failed) to become one in the beige surroundings of their paper merchant workplace Wernham Hogg. When they finally made it happen in the finale (sorry for the spoiler), it felt like the entire country rejoiced, so I’m sorry Ross and Rachel, you’ll always be second in my mind. Perhaps that’s why it hit so hard this week when Lucy Davis, who played receptionist Dawn so beautifully two decades ago, bravely revealed she had been diagnosed with incurable cancer. What followed was a huge outpouring of emotion and support for Davis, with her U.S. counterpart Pam among those sending love. Gervais, who played Dawn’s cringe-inducing office manager David Brent, sent a love heart emoji and Edgar Wright, who directed Davis in zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, replied, “Love you Lucy. Always.” Everyone at Deadline echoes all the sentiment.

The Deadline Interview: Mark Turtletaub

It has been a minute since veteran producer-director Marc Turtletaub got behind the camera to make a movie, but he’s back with Scottish road movie Borges and Me, which is naturally screening this weekend at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Zac tracked him down for a chat about the pic, which is about a St Andrews student (Fionn Whitehead) who embarks on a trip across the Scottish Highlands in the company of legendary poet Jorge Luis Borges (Luis Gnecco). Among highlights of the interview is news of Turtletaub’s next film: An adaptation of Ben Reeves’ novel Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt. >>>Read The Interview

Global Breakout: ‘Small Town Scandal‘

If you’re a fan of What We Do in the Shadows or Flight of the Conchords (and why wouldn’t you be?), you should try out the latest comedy breakout from New Zealand, Small Town Scandal. Billed as an Oceania version of Only Murders in the Building, the show stars Tom Sainsbury, Rose Matafeo, Morgana O’Reilly and British sitcom royalty Felicity Kendal. The story is about disgraced journalist turned podcaster Toby (Sainsbury), who returns home to investigate the bizarre death of his millionaire uncle, who has apparently perished in an automatic lawnmower accident. Ouch. Sainsbury, who wrote and acted in What We Do in the Shadows and spin-off Wellington Paranormal, initially created Small Town Scandal as a podcast, and its journey to TV provides another example of how the medium is becoming a breeding ground for scripted TV and film. >>>Read The Breakout

Secrets Of Sarajevo

Balkan up: Diana spoke to leaders at the Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) ahead of the southeastern European event, which kicks off today in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Festival director Jovan Marjanović was keen to talk up Paweł Pawlikowski’s opening film, Fatherland, and to pay tribute to a jury comprising the likes of president Emily Watson, Woody Harrelson and Diego Luna. As Marjanović says, there will be “a lot of good, big filmmaking names in Sarajevo.” Sounds tasty. In a separate interview, Marjanović and SFF industry head Masa Marković called their CineLink Industry Days strand a “really well-oiled machine that creates a platform for talent at each stage of their careers.” Guess you have to get down there to see if they’re right. More on Sarajevo here.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: Netflix has greenlit a feature documentary out of Mexico about Keiko, the orca who became world famous after appearing in the 1993 movie Free Willy, which Warner Bros. and the Russo brothers are planning to reimagine.

🌶️ Another One: Camille Delamarre will direct Andrea Iervolino’s sports car movie Bugatti: The Final Race, with Iervolino himself penning the script alongside Albert Ferrari.

🔥 A third for luck: Anson Boon, Ellie Bamber and Eddie Marsan will star in Halftime Hero, which is based on the remarkable true story of when soccer manager Harry Redknapp pulled a mouthy fan out of the stands to play in a professional match.

🔎 Investigation: ITN is facing questions over workplace culture after an external review concluded that journalist suffered disability discrimination when raising concerns about his working environment.

💼 New job: Matt Creasey has landed a big role at the enlarged Banijay Rights, overseeing outposts including L.A., Miami, Sydney and Mumbai. All3Media International’s Singapore and New York bases will shutter and be folded into the newly combined entity.

⚽ Disney+ has struck a deal with Gary Neville for podcasts from his Global Studios-owned company, The Overlap.

📅 Diary date: Saturday Night Live UK‘s expanded second season will debut on September 12.

🎥 Trailer: For MobLand Season 2 shows the Harrigan clan spiraling out of control.

Photo Of The Week

Doors Opening – The winners of the Locarno Film Festival’s project and incubator initiatives First Look, Alliance 4 Development and Open Doors gather to celebrate.

International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Stewart Clarke. Send any tips, comments or ideas for international coverage to jwhittock@deadline.com and mgoldbart@deadline.com

The psychological crime thriller Come With Me, starring Theo Rossi and Ron Perlman, has sold to Vertical Entertainment for North America. The film also has a trailer now, which THR can exclusively premiere below.

The movie will be released in select theaters on Sept. 4, Firebook Entertainment has unveiled alongside the sales news and the release of the first trailer.

Directed by Aaron Harvey from a screenplay that he co-wrote with Jonathan Croom, Come With Me follows Simon Ward (Rossi), a working-class man whose life unravels after a traumatic home invasion, mounting problems at work and the loss of his best friend.

“Falling under the influence of a rhetoric-spewing radio host, Simon spirals into a violent attempt to correct the injustice he believes surrounds him,” warns a synopsis. Perlman co-stars as Dalton Kirby, with Kate French, Chris Mullinax, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Jay Huguley, Marion Kerr, Michael Sirow and Barron Boedecker rounding out the cast.

Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights. The deal was brokered by John Moss, CEO and owner of Firebook, which is handling worldwide sales on the film, produced by Demetrius Stear of A Mind’s Eye, Colin Bates of Dream Syndicate and Aaron Harvey of Michael Bruce Pictures.

“Vertical is the perfect home for this film,” said Moss. “Theo Rossi delivers a performance audiences are going to remember, and we can’t wait for them to experience it. This is a great win for Aaron, producer Demetrius Stear and everyone who poured themselves into making this movie.”

And Harvey explained: “Come With Me is a film about perception and paranoia, and it couldn’t be more relevant than in our current, content-laden landscape, where what we ingest creates and molds the person we become, for good or bad. To see Theo Rossi portray this struggle in such an incredible and intense way was a pleasure to have created with him, and we wanted to make a genuine reflection of how damaging rhetoric can be when fed into a susceptible mind.”

Firebook, based in Tulsa, focuses on “psychologically charged, high-tension thrillers.”

Rossi is currently on a roll. His crime drama biopic Bruton, directed by Vincent Grashaw, just world-premiered at the 79^th edition of the Locarno Film Festival. He also stars in Kevin Hamedani’s The Saviors, opposite Adam Scott, which is set to hit theaters on March 26, 2027. 

But let’s give you an exclusive taste of Come With Me. Its first trailer has Rossi, Perlman – and a lot of tension. Watch the exclusive Come With Me trailer right here.